For some people who had been officially invited to Washington to witness the inauguration of President Barack Obama, it became a day of bitter disappointment.
When those who had tickets to the purple section on the Capitol grounds showed up at 6:00 a.m., they were directed into the Third Street Tunnel, but something went wrong. They waited until 10:30 a.m., then walked out of the tunnel and made their way back to the closed gate where people were still yelling, “Let us in!” News headlines started appearing around the world: Purple Tunnel of Doom: Ticketed Inauguration Attendees Shut Out.
There is an event in the future far more significant than the inauguration of a president, and there will be people then who will find themselves on the wrong side of the gate. They too will cry, “Let us in!” but that gate will never reopen. The Lord Jesus warned that the gate to His eternal kingdom would close some day. He said, “When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and you begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open unto us,’ He shall answer and say unto you, ‘I know you not from whence you are'” (Luke 13:25).
The people outside will knock and beg for entrance. They will claim special status based on their privileges in the past and their familiarity with the Lord Jesus Christ, but He will tell them He never knew them. Once that door shuts, it will be closed for eternity. The message to those on the wrong side of the gate will be clear: “Depart from Me.” People on the inside will be enjoying Heaven, but those on the outside will be left to their eternal doom.
Are you sure that you will be entitled to get in? Some hold a ticket that says ‘sincere and devout’. Others hold their ‘faith’ ticket. Some are holding a ‘good works’ ticket. Some cling to a ticket that says ‘chance’. None of those tickets will give you admittance to Heaven. The Lord Jesus clearly said, “I am the door: by Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved” (John 10:9). To continue with the analogy, only those who are holding the ticket marked: ‘Christ is my Saviour’ will be admitted. All others will be turned away.
Do you know the Lord Jesus Christ personally as your Saviour, or are you still holding an invalid ticket?
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